The NLG Task Force on the Americas authored this letter to US Ambassador to Honduras, Lisa Kubiske, in response to the murders of two human rights activists, attorney José Nicolás Bernárdez and Judge Lenin Castañeda, on March 14, 2014. As the letter states:

A year after the death of Hugo Chávez is a propitious time to examine his legacy. Such an examination is even more important in light of the current wave of demonstrations in Venezuela, which have given new life to the transparent attempts of the opposition and the United States to depose the Bolivarian government. These demonstrations appear to be organized by an especially violent and reactionary sector of the opposition, seeking overthrow rather than democratic change.

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) calls on Congress and the Secretary of State John Kerry to oppose U.S. intervention in the ongoing conflict in Venezuela, as a violent campaign brought by Venezuela’s extreme right-wing opposition seeks to topple the recently elected government.